25,000 first COVID vaccinations completed in Fife

NHS Fife's director of pharmacy Scott Garden says the health board is on track to administer Covid jabs to all high-priority individuals by early February as it calls upon dentists, optometrists and healthcare support workers to temporarily retrain as vaccinators.

A dozen venues have been designated as community immunisation clinics, which will work alongside GP practices to vaccinate the Kingdom's residents, while frontline health and social care staff are being inoculated at a rate of up to 735 workers a day.

As of January 20 - the date a report was prepared for NHS Fife's board meeting - 19,000 people had been vaccinated. However, by the time the board met today (Wednesday) Mr Garden confirmed that number had grown by more than a quarter to 24,000.

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Mr Garden said: "We're delivering at pace in these cohorts and ages targeted. In terms of the (national target for) pace we are in a place to deliver that."

The Scottish Government aims to administer the first Covid-19 vaccine to all care home residents and workers, the over-80s and frontline health and social care workers by February 5 before moving onto those aged 70 or over.

Ministers want to see all over-65s given a vaccine by early March and other priority groups - the over-50s and those aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions - called up for a jab by early May.

All are expected to receive their second, final dose of the vaccine within 12 weeks of the first.

Mr Garden added: "I want to say a big thank you to all of the programme team involved in planning and delivery of the vaccination programme to date in Fife."

The full list of community immunisation clinics in Fife is as follows - Parkgate Community Centre; East End Park, Dunfermline; Dunfermline East Church; The Lochgelly Centre; Templehall Community Centre; Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital ; Rothes Halls; Cupar Corn Exchange; East Neuk Centre, Anstruther; The Larick Centre, Tayport; St Andrews Community Hospital; Tayside Institute Community Centre, Newburgh.

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